Nora Roberts, The Pagan Stone

The Pagan Stone

Nora Roberts

Jove, Dec 2008, $7.99

ISBN: 9780515144666

Hawkins Hollow looks like an ordinary small Maryland town, but every seven years during the seventh month, the villagers go crazy; killing one another, defacing and destroying property, and creating general mayhem. This happens because twenty years ago ten years old Gabe, Caleb and Fox spilled their blood near 'The Pagan Stone', and that liberated the demon incarcerated there.

The men know this time either they or the demon will die. They learn that their women are descendents of the female the demon raped three centuries ago before his binding. Quinn, Layla and Cybil are fated to be in the town during this critical period because their men need their help. If they don't destroy the demon this time, it will be free to walk the earth spreading its evil wherever it goes. However, none of them has any earthy idea how to perform the deed. With the date coming soon they better figure it out fast or else.

This paranormal romantic suspense is fantastic with the focus being on Gabe and Cybil who both can envision multiple possible futures. Gage, a free spirit, avoids Cybil because he shuns serious relationships and his gut warns him this would be one. However, his heart makes him reconsider as they each have deep feelings for the other. They are also determined to defeat the demon. Nora Roberts is at her best with her final tale of the Sign of the Seven (see 'Blood Brothers' and 'The Hollow').

Harriet Klausner